The Rolling Stones “The Rolling Stones” 1964. Today, December 18th, is Kieth Richards’ 75th birthday (b. 1943). He is ranked as one of the best guitarists of all-time as well as the co-writer, along with Mick Jagger, of several of the best songs of all-time. This is the US version of The Rolling Stones on London Records with the subtitle England’s Newest Hit Makers (which became its official US title in later years; the US release has a few different tracks and titles than the UK version). The LP went to #1 in the UK and hit #11 in the US. Only a few tracks on the Stones’ debut album were written by Jagger and Richards (at the time he was going by Keith Richard, no “s”): “Tell Me” which went to #24 in  the US, and also two tracks credited to Nanker Phelge (a band pseudonym) along with Phil Spector: “Now I’ve Got a Witness” and “Little by Little.”  The rest of the album is packed with covers of early rock-n-roll and blues covers including classics like “Not Fade Away” (originally by Buddy Holly) which went to #3 in the UK and #48 in the US, “Route 66″ (Bobby Troup), “I Just Want to Make Love to You” (Willie Dixon) and “Carol” (Chuck Berry).